N-GREEN Kick-Off Meeting: Launching a Neighbourhood-Centred Approach to Environmental Sustainability
On 9–10 February 2026, the partners of the project N-GREEN – Enhancing environmental sustainability of cities and communities through a neighbourhood-centred approach met for the official Kick-Off Meeting, marking the start of the project’s implementation phase. The project aims to strengthen environmental sustainability in cities and communities by equipping Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) with tools and support to foster participatory practices at neighbourhood level. The project promotes a bottom-up approach to the urban green transition, recognising the important role that local communities play in driving sustainable change. The main objectives are to establish environmental sustainability actions through a participatory neighbourhood-centred approach, improve the knowledge and competencies of CSO workers and volunteers, and raise awareness of the role neighbourhoods can play in supporting greener cities. The core result of the project will be the development of the N-GREEN Toolkit, a practical guide of approximately 40 pages designed to support CSOs in co-designing and implementing participatory environmental actions at local level. The Toolkit will be developed based on focus groups involving experts in climate change, community development and environmental sustainability in each partner country and it will be tested during N-GREEN Hackathons organised in each country. These Hackathons will combine training sessions and practical challenges involving CSO workers and volunteers. The project will conclude with Community Engagement Forums in each partner country, aimed at presenting the results and promoting dialogue around neighbourhood-based environmental initiatives. Planning and Next Steps During the first day, each partner (FANO AL CENTRO, Mindleap S L, The Common Ones introduced their organisation and outlined their main objectives and activities. During the meeting, partners discussed the structure, methodology and timeline for the Toolkit development, agreeing on clear deadlines for focus groups which will be organised in each partner country (Italy, Spain, Denmark) for collecting feedback from expert in climate change, community development, and environmental sustainability. Further updates will be shared as the project progresses.










